"Ignore The Answer And Suffer"

"But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." Matthew 19:22

When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to have eternal life, Jesus gave him his answer.  He told him to sell all he had, give it to the poor and follow Him.  The young man couldn't, or wouldn't do it, and went away sad.

When we have our answer, we then have a choice to either do what we need to do or neglect it.  For example, we have been talking about other people's expectations of us and it causing us to have an unchristian-like attitude or become offended.  Once we see the problem, we then also have the solution.  But it is up to us to apply the solution or not apply it.

When we realize that it is the enemy trying to steal, kill and destroy us, then we know what our answer is to keep from being destroyed.  We submit ourselves to the Lord, resist the devil and he will flee.  We rebuke him in the Name and Authority of Jesus.  

When we see that we have become offended, then we need to go to God and repent.  We need to ask Him to cleanse our hearts from all offense, hurt, malice, bitterness, unforgiveness and any other unrighteous attitude that we have allowed to inhabit our hearts. Then we need to ask Him to heal our hearts from any damage or scars caused by the offense.

The point is, we can't ignore it and hope it goes away.  We can't sweep it under the rug.  We can't allow offense to stay.  We can't keep holding on to it like the rich young ruler held on to his money.  He wanted eternal life but he wanted his money too.  There is no place for both in our lives.  And if we ignore our answer-- the way out of offense-- then just like that rich young ruler we will miss out on the peace and joy we could be experiencing.  We will miss out on the joy of the relationships that are suffering.  And perhaps we will miss out on eternal life.  Others may suffer because you ignore it, but you will suffer more.  Just ask the rich young ruler.  

Have a great day.  Don't ignore the answer.  Apply it.  Do it.  Or you will miss out.